Davis' niece testifies during punishment phase

Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 1999

JIM McBRIDE

Globe-News Courts Writer

Larry Donnell Davis' niece testified Tuesday that her uncle robbed and killed a man during a 1993 trip to Dallas**.**

Veronica Davis continued punishment-phase testimony Tuesday with her account of a 1993 trip she took with her uncle**.**

She told jurors they traveled to Dallas and searched for Larry Davis' former girlfriend, but they were unable to find the woman initially**.**

After a couple of days, they ran out of money and slept in their car, Veronica Davis testified**.**

While at a grocery store, Larry Davis met a man who asked for a ride and offered to drink a couple of beers with the defendant, she said**.**

"He (Larry Davis) was saying, `I gotta get him,' " she testified**.**

According to testimony presented by Veronica Davis:

Larry Davis went to a grocery store and bought a small paring knife**.** He then left his niece at a park and went up to the man's apartment**.** Later, he returned to the car with his clothes covered in blood**.**

Larry Davis told his niece the man tried to kiss him, and he stabbed him in the neck**.** The victim, Lexie Harris, fled to a bathroom, where Larry Davis hit him in the head with a heavy toilet-tank lid**.** Larry Davis reportedly took $36 from the wallet of the victim, who died from his injuries**.**

Prosecutors presented testimony Monday that Larry Davis faces another capital murder charge in the 1993 beating and stabbing death of Harris**.**

Following Veronica Davis' testimony, defense attorney Warren Clark repeatedly questioned her about conflicts between statements she made to police and testimony she gave Tuesday**.**

Clark noted various conflicts between her testimony and a statement she gave to Dallas police investigating the Harris homicide**.**

The defense also attempted to show that prosecutors substantially helped Veronica Davis prepare for her testimony, a charge the prosecution denied**.**

Also Tuesday, two Potter County sheriff's deputies testified about an incident in which Larry Davis struck at least two deputies when he was ordered to move to another cell**.** Larry Davis was told to move to another cell because an inmate was threatened by a prisoner in another cell, testimony showed**.**

The deputies testified that Larry Davis eventually was subdued and that they suffered some minor injuries in the scuffle**.Both deputies indicated that Larry Davis was not a troublesome prisoner, and further testimony showed he apologized to one of the officers he struck.**

An eight-woman, four-man jury found Larry Davis guilty of capital murder on Friday**.** On Monday, prosecutors presented testimony about Larry Davis' criminal record to persuade jurors that he should receive lethal injection for the slaying of Michael Jerome Barrow**.**

Larry Davis was charged in the Aug**.** 28, 1995, death of Barrow, 26**.**

Larry Davis and four other defendants were charged in the slaying**.** Kristie Lynn Castillo, Donald Junior Drew, Raydon Drew and a juvenile male were arrested and charged in connection with Barrow's death**.**

Barrow's parents found him dead in his home at 1409 Trigg St**.** He had been severely beaten and stabbed**.**

Barrow's house was robbed during the incident, and authorities later recovered some stolen items in local pawn shops, police said**.**